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Due to a stupid accident by me, I acquired a 980m with a chunk knocked out of the core. Not wanted to scrap a perfectly good top end PCB for parts, I wanted to replace the core. You can see the gouge in the core to the left of the TFC918.01W writing near the left edge of the die.
First I had to get the dead core off:
With no sellers on ebay selling GM204 cores, my only option was to buy a full card off ebay. With no mobile cards under $500,I had to get a desktop card. And with this much effort involved to do the repair, of course I got a 980 instead of a 970.
Below is the dead 980 I got off ebay:
You can see for some reason someone removed a bunch of components between the core and PCI-E slot. I have no idea why anyone would do this. I tried the card and it was error 43. PCB bend seemed to be too little to kill the card, so those missing components had to be it.
GPUs can be dead because someone removed or installed a heatsink wrong and broke a corner of the core off, so buying cards for cores on ebay is a gamble. This core is not even scratched:
Preheating the card prior to high heat to pull the core:
And core pulled. It survived the pull:
Next is the 980 core on the left cleaned of solder. On the right is the original 980m core:
Next I need to reball the 980 core, and lastly put it on the card. I am waiting for the BGA stencil to arrive from China. It still has not cleared US customs:
https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction?tLabels=LS022957368CN
When that shows up expect the core to be on the card in 1-2 days.
So some potential issues with this mod besides me physically messing up:
I believe that starting with Maxwell Nvidia started flashing core configuration onto the cores, like intel does with CPUID. I believe this because I found laser cuts on a GK104 for a 680m, but could not find any on two GM204 cores. In addition, Clyde figured out device IDs on the 680m and K5000m. They are set by resistor values on the PCB. The 980m has the same resistor configuration as the 680m for the lowest nibble of the Device ID (0x13D7), but all of the resistors are absent. Filling in these resistors does nothing. Resistors do exist for the 3 and D in the device ID. Flashing a 970m vBIOS on my 980m did not change the device ID or core configuration. If this data is not stored on the PCB through straps or the vBIOS, then it must be stored on the GPU core.
So I expect the card with the 980 core to report its device ID as 0x13D0. The first 12 bits pulled from the PCB, and last 4 from the core. 0x13D0 does not exist. I may possibly be able to add it to the .inf, or I may have to change the ID on the board. With the ID's 0 hardset by the core, I can only change the device ID to 0x13C0, matching that of a desktop 980.
An additional issue may be that the core may not fully enable. Clyde put a 680 core on a K5000m and never got it to unlock to 1536 CUDA cores. We never figured out why.
Lastly, there was very tough glue holding the 980m core on. When removing this glue I scraped some of the memory PCB traces. I checked with a multimeter and these traces are still intact, but if they are significantly damaged this can be problematic for memory stability. I think they are OK though, just exposed.
Due to Clyde's lack of success in getting his 680 core to fully unlock I am concerned I might not get 2048. If I don't at least I should still have a very good chip. Desktop chips are better binned than mobile chips (most 980s are over 80% ASIC quality, while most 980ms are below 70%). In addition this 980 is a Galax 980 Hall of Fame, which are supposedly binned out of the 980 chips. Having a 90%+ ASIC would be great to have. The mid 60s chips we get in the 980m suck tons of power.
I want to give a special thanks to Mr. Fox. This card was originally his. He sent me one card to mod and one to repair. I repaired the broken one and broke the working one. The broken one is the one I've been modding.
Article update: SUCCESS!
Core finally reballed. If the mount is poor I will be very very angry...
Card cooling. New brain installed.
So it actually works with the 980m vBIOS. I tried modding too soon. I just needed to reinstall the driver. I only ran a very lightweight render test because right now the card is only running on 2 phases. I'm pulling the phase driver from my 980m now to get the 3rd phase back up.
Follow the rest of the discussion here:

hi everyone,
do I get it right, this mod "A11 Unlocked Bios M18xR2 (by swick1981 & svl7) 2.0.0" allows me to run my alienware M18x R2 with two GTX 980M SLI in Legacy mode again, so I don´t need a modded Nvidia driver anymore? Please share your experiences with me, I would be greatful.
best regards and thank you

Hi guys,
I succesfully flashed v2 vbios from prema and I tried 1v and and oc but I couldnt. I think it was power suply. Mine is 230w. And I tried 0.75 0.50 0.25 and 0 volt. But now I m trying game, benchmark screen goes dark and after beeping at 0 volt. Is this a hardware damage? I used just 1v max.(temperature max 70c)
I tried
cmos reset
DDU
Xtu uninstall
And come back to stock vbios
I think my card is dying
Please help me!

Hi guys,
I apologise in advance if this was asked before,
Basically I have acquired an AW m17x r4 with a faulty graphics card. The card was the 675m.
I just happen to have a GTX 980m out of a faulty MSI GT60.
I did a fresh install of Windows 10 on the machine in UEFI mode with secure boot enabled however the card just shows up as Microsoft Basic Display Adopter and Nvidia Driver installer says there is no compatible hardware.
Is there a way to make this card work? Something like a modified driver or perhaps a vBIOS flash?
Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys!
Update:
Trying to flash a clevo vbios, but get board ID mismatch in nvflash
Board id E90C
vBIOS id E906
Could someone direct towards a compatible BIOS for this card?
Thanks!

Hi there,
on 21st of October I had to realise that Battlefield1 is not running with my current driver 361.75 . . . after I bought it. Installing the required 372.90 version is not so easy after you upgraded your Alienware M18xR2 with two GTX980M in SLI mode and Dell this old is not supporting you with Win10 anymore, anyone having some Nvidia driver for my needs??
Best regards and thank you

Hi everyone,
today I had my first Oculus Rift experience and it was great, I´m using an Alienware M18x R2 with two GTX980M in SLI / i7-3940XM CPU and would like to know if someone is using VR with a similar configuration like mine. I know there´s a possibility to test it on Steam and I´m nearly on the green area there, so I think I´m ready but if someone is having real experiences and would like to share them I would be greatful.
best regards and thank you : )

Hi, dont know if this is in the right forum but i want to get the 980m in sli for my m18x r2 and im wondering shall i wait for it to fall in price because the new mobile pascal just released? i still see 980m laptops being sold for same price and pre-purchase 1060m thats insane. any new would be good though.

[Preface: I searched for about 30 minutes on Tech|Inferno before posting this, no one likes repeatied posts: ]
I have a Clevo P370SM3 (now a P370SM) running dual 980m's that were part of an upgrade kit from Eurocom. I am considering using PremaMod's VBIOS mods on this page to take advantage of Prema's GPU improvements for the 980m. On that link on Page 4 are (3) different variants of the 980m GPU. How do I tell which one is the correct one for my 980m GPU's? Nvidia Inspector? If I had to speculate I would assume the GTX980M_8GB_MXM_OC_PM?
MAXWELL
GTX980M_8GB_MXM_OC_PM
GTX980M-G_8GB_MXM_ZM_OC_PM
GTX980M-G_8GB_MXM_DM_OC_PM
Constructive thoughts or suggestions appreciated.
Kind Regards,
Koinonos
P.S. I went from 12,000 on 3DMark 2011 on 780m SLI to 16,400 on 980m SLI. A nice step up and I think 18,000 is reachable with minor adjustments.

Not sure where to post this so I just added it to general.
I just upgraded my M17X R4 120Hz from 675m to a 980m and I'm having a problem I hope someone here can help me with.
To start: It was installed correctly and successfully on Windows 10 (I wanted to start somewhere more certain). Everything worked fine and everything read fine (as far as the graphics card goes). After I was sure everything was working properly, I reverted to Windows 7. As I read, with the current unlocked BIOS A11 (posted on this site) it's capable of running 9xxM series in windows 7. When I installed 7 on this laptop soon after buying it (reformatted old HDD, moved to bay 1, inserted 500GB SSD in bay 0 and installed 7 OS on it) I installed selecting the UEFI option and the drive is in GPT. As mentioned, I have Unlocked A11 BIOS (thank you to the maker on this site!).
Anyway, once I reverted to 7 it started to boot up and said it needed to run startup repair. I allowed it and it froze once the bar filled at the bottom. Upon restarting I tried once more.. same thing. I tried to "start normally" and it starts boot looping.
I then changed "Load Legacy Option Rom" from disable to enable. This causes the 8 beep post issue immediately upon power on. This problem doesn't exist when this option is disabled. I then utilized the HDMI trick (I made a separate post for this the other day. Connect HDMI out to any screen and it will cause post on the laptop screen [but not on the external device]. Can then immediately disconnect once post has occured and works fine with no error or beeps). This let it boot up and I'm able to get to the desktop and everything works fine. Can even run screen at 120Hz. I ran diagnostics on the card, checked drivers.. everything is reading correctly. This is workable, but far from an ideal solution as I need to have a cable and some kind of HDMI screen available just to boot up every time.
I have two option here and I'm hoping someone can provide a little guidance one way or the other. I can either fix the boot looping issue on "Legacy Rom - disabled" (it hangs on classpnp.sys when I try safe mode if that information helps at all). OR, I need to find a way for it to post when "Legacy Rom - enable" without connecting to an HDMI device (just plugging in the cable doesn't work. It has to be connected to something on the other end).
For the first, I have tried start up repair and tried repairing using my WIN 7 disc but it doesn't actually pull up the menu. It just shows the windows loading screen and then freezes after a while.
For the second I have tried changing different video options in hopes it will post on boot without connecting to an external or tried to find a way to keep the HDMI port active without something being in it. I can make no progress with either of these as I'm unaware exactly what exaclty the selections change. I currently have it set to PEG.
Also, I have tried bios reset through removing all power sources and the 2032 CMOS and holding power button 30 seconds. Didn't help.
Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to ask any questions you have that could assist in ascertaining the source of the problem in either instance.
As a last resort, I could go back to 10, but I would really rather not. The R4 (in Dell's words) isn't being tested for compatibility. Many features don't seem to work, and overall I just much prefer 7.

NVIDIA 'Maxwell' VBIOS mods
Here you find modified VBIOS versions for the mobile parts of the Nvidia 'Maxwell' series.
The VBIOS versions in this post are tweaked for performance and versatility. You'll get almost complete control over the performance parameters of your GPU.
List of available VBIOS mods:
Nvidia GTX 970m - 'OC edition' rev0 - >> 6 GB Version << - modified by @johnksss & svl7 -> see attachments
Nvidia GTX 980m - 'OC edition' rev0 - >> 8 GB Version << - modified by @johnksss & svl7 -> see attachments
Screenshot demonstrating the capabilities of the 970m versions:
>> Read the instructions carefully before flashing! <<
If anything is unclear after reading or if you have additional remarks, please post in the thread.
Flashing:
- Go to the device manager -> 'Display Adapters' -> chooser your GPU, right click on it and choose disable
- Flash the VBIOS with mnvflash, a modified version of nvflash (see attachments). Here are detailed instructions for nvflash in case you aren't familiar with it.
- After the flashing is done: Enable the GPU once again in the device manager.
- Reboot
Do NOT use driver 347.09, it's broken and useless and won't allow you to overclock, even with the stock firmware.
Don't distribute the files hosted here outside of Tech|Inferno. Don't modify the files you download here.
Donation link
in case you want to buy me a beer
Thanks and cheers!

Prema Mod™ vBIOS for Alienware
AW18 GTX980M 8GB MXM GPU!
Power throttle disabled
Over-voltage slider enabled and adjusted (up to a maximum of 1.2v)
Activated and adjusted thermal slider (to keep it cooler if desired)
Core overclock slider limit raised
Power consumption meter activated
Fixed 3D voltage base-line in order to stabilize OCs and voltage-match both cards in SLI systems (based on average ASIC)
Thermal protection @ 92c (once*91c are breached the system throttles volts and clocks in order to protect it)
Protection against Furmark and Kombustor GPU burnout (AVOID those software even with stock vBIOS)!
This vBIOS uses stock clocks & average ASIC voltage and also keeps the stock Turbo functionality intact (minus the throttle) unless, You decide to overclock/overvolt!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<<< This vBIOS is designed for AW 18 with system BIOS A12+ only. >>>
<<< It is NOT compatible with models with soldered GPUs >>>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Password for all files: premamod.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All my mods are DONATIONWARE and for your personal use only!
THX & ENJOY!

Prema Mod™ vBIOS for Alienware
AW15 R2 / 17 R3 GTX980M 4GB BGA GPU!
Power throttle disabled for good
Over-voltage slider enabled and adjusted (up to a maximum of 1.2v)
Activated and adjusted thermal slider (to keep it cooler if desired)
Core overclock slider raised
Fixed 3D voltage base-line in order to stabilize OCs (based on average ASIC)
Thermal protection @ 92c (once*91c are breached the system throttles volts and clocks in order to protect it)
Protection against Furmark and Kombustor GPU burnout (AVOID those software even with stock vBIOS)!
This vBIOS uses stock clocks & average ASIC voltage and also keeps the stock Turbo functionality intact (minus the throttle) unless, You decide to overclock/overvolt!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(This is ONLY for AW 15 R2/17 R3 and are NOT compatible with other models)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Password for all files: premamod.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All my mods are DONATIONWARE and for your personal use only!
THX & ENJOY!

Prema Mod™ vBIOS for Alienware
AW15 (R1)/ 17 R2 GTX980M 4GB BGA GPU!
Power throttle disabled for good
Over-voltage slider enabled and adjusted (up to a maximum of 1.2v)
Activated and adjusted thermal slider (to keep it cooler if desired)
Core overclock slider raised
Fixed 3D voltage base-line in order to stabilize OCs (based on average ASIC)
Thermal protection @ 92c (once*91c are breached the system throttles volts and clocks in order to protect it)
Protection against Furmark and Kombustor GPU burnout (AVOID those software even with stock vBIOS)!
This vBIOS uses stock clocks & average ASIC voltage and also keeps the stock Turbo functionality intact (minus the throttle) unless, You decide to overclock/overvolt!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(This is ONLY for AW 15 (R1)/17 R2 and are NOT compatible with other models)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Password for all files: premamod.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All my mods are DONATIONWARE and for your personal use only!
THX & ENJOY!

I haven't posted here yet, but i currently have a p170sm with a 4700mq, prema bios, gx980m and 4 ssd's. Currently still using my stock 240w adapter and was curious to know if there are any benefits to getting a 330w adapter? So far, i haven't really had to many issues. I have a few cooling mods done so everything has been keeping decent temps wise. Thanks for the advice/input in advance!

About Us

Tech|Inferno was formed in 2011 by a small group of enthusiasts who wanted to create a platform that would empower others to share in their passion of all things related to modern technology. To achieve this vision, Tech|Inferno invites developers, modders, enthusiasts and dreamers to come on board and share their knowledge with its large and ever growing community.